Adm. William J. Fallon thinks its high time the US military and the Chinese military got together. According to the head of US Pacific Command, the two countries have considerable interaction on political and economic fronts. On a tour of China last week, Fallon told reporters it is time to get military forces working on forging ties to work things like natural disaster relief. It’s time to get over the 2001 encounter in which a Chinese fighter struck a US Navy EP-3 flying in international airspace. The Chinese held the American crew until the US apologized for its aircraft landing in China without permission. (See “The Last Flight of Wang Wei” here.)
The use of a military counter-drone laser on the southwest border this week—which prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly close the airspace over El Paso, Texas—will be a “case study” on the complex web of authorities needed to employ such weapons near civilian areas and the consequences of agencies…
